Unsanitary canteens should be blacklisted, says Subramaniam

SHAH ALAM: School canteen operators may face blacklisting and licences revoked if they do not adhere to the Health Ministry's guidelines on food preparation and hygiene.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said that he has already initiated talks with the Education Ministry on this move following high incidences of schoolchildren coming down with food poisoning.
"I strongly feel that school canteen operators who do not adhere strictly to the Health Ministry guidelines, especially compliance to food safety and hygiene, be blacklisted," he said.
Subramaniam said that canteen operators have been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that food prepared should be done in a hygienic environment.
"The quality of food should also meet the standard stipulated by the ministry," he said, adding that failure to do so would result in cases of schoolchildren coming down with food poisoning.
"This is a serious matter as we had many cases of food poisoning over the last few years," he said at the award ceremony to recognise clean, safe and healthy canteens nationwide at the Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC).
Between January 1 and August 12, Subramaniam said, there were 12,122 food poisoning cases reported nationwide.
"More than 43% of food poisoning cases or 5,265 cases were from school canteens. This is a serious issue as it affects the health of the students and interrupts their education process," said Subramaniam.
He said school canteen operators should take their responsibility seriously as they are dealing with the life of schoolchildren.
Subramaniam hoped the Education Ministry would consider the ministry's proposal to go hard on the errant canteen operators.
He said food poisoning is often caused by unsanitary food preparation that should not happen in the first place as they have been cautioned.
Last year, he said, 16,399 canteens were inspected and 246 were ordered to close as their premises were deemed unsanitary.
"Until July this year, 9,780 canteens were inspected and 98 has been ordered to be shut down as the cleanliness level of their premises were not satisfactory," he added.